


Would a restaurant and a bakery work well together?

by Xenia



Series: multifandom writing challenge [3]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Masterchef (TV) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, First Kiss, Getting Together, Happily Ever After, M/M, Opening a restaurant together, and a bakery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenia/pseuds/Xenia
Summary: Nicky and Joe take part in Masterchef Australia. They meet and they fall in love. Because what else can happen when these two are involved?
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: multifandom writing challenge [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151261
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46
Collections: Fandoms Challenge 2021





	Would a restaurant and a bakery work well together?

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written for the Fandom writing challenge of a Facebook group: Week 3 -> write for a pairing you never wrote for. 
> 
> I've never wrote for this fandom or this pairing. I hope I did an half decent job.  
> I based this story on the 12th edition of Masterchef Australia.  
> If you see any mistake let me know.

Nicky and Joe met at the tryout for the Top 50. They were both there alone and by chance they ended up sitting next to each other. Conversation came easily. They shared a lot of interests, not only the love for cooking but also for art and music and literature. From that first conversation Nicky learned that Joe loved art, paintings in particular and he liked to draw. And Joe learned that Nicky loved literature and history, that he loved to read, especially Greek and Latin works, epic poems in particular and that his favorite historic period were the crusades.    
Joe was the first to go cook in front of the judges and when he came out wearing the Masterchef apron it was the most natural thing for Nicky to go hug him, and the same happened when Nicky got his.   
Regardless of the immediate connection they felt, Nicky tried to not get to attached. Being in the Top50 is a great accomplishment, but about half of the contestants will have to leave soon, the risk of one of them leaving is too high for Nicky to risk getting too involved. And Joe seems to be on his same page.    
They keep friendly, Joe told Nicky everything about his favorite painter and the paintings he loved the most and Nicky told Joe about his love for the Iliad and his hate for Dante.    
It was fun and it was easy and Nick was grateful for having Joe’s support. Knowing that someone was in his corner, that someone had his back made it easier to cook, easier to stay focused.   
In the end they both made it to the Top24.    
While the risk of one of them having to leave soon was still high it also became harder to keep their feeling in check, to not get too attached and Nicky had never been able to protect himself. He had this bad habit of falling hard and fast and more often than not he ended up badly hurt. He always said that he wouldn’t do that again, that next time he would take things slow. But he always ended up making the same mistakes. And Joe made it easy to fall in love. He was kind and sweet and funny and Nicky had never seen anymore more beautiful.    
The first Mystery Box went well for both of them, they ended up in the top three and got the chance to compete for the Immunity. Nicky won and watching Joe fight for his place in the competition was one of the hardest things Nick done since he got in the Top50.    
But Joe made it. And then made it through the next Pressure Test. 

  
They made it to the Top 10. By then they knew almost everything about each other.    
Joe learned that Nicky had moved to Australia with his sister from Genoa. To quote his father, his parents had always known that there was something weird, something wrong with Nicky and they had pushed him to join the seminary and become a priest. At first Nicky had went along with their plans. But then he had met someone and had fallen in love. When he had told his parents that he wanted to leave the seminary and move in with the guy he had fallen for his father had kicked him out of the house, told him to never show his face again. A couple of years later his relationship had ended. Nicky hadn’t known what to do, where to go. He could have stayed in Genoa, but he wanted to put as much distance as he possibly could between himself and his parents. When he had gone to say goodbye to his family the only person that had talked to him had been his sister. She was disgusted by their parents behavior and she had decided on a whim that she wanted to go with him. Nicky had tried to make her change her mind, but Maria had always been stubborn. Nicky had started to cook because he missed home. What had started as a way to comfort himself and his sister and to be less homesick had quickly become a passion, a calling. Maria was the one that had signed Nicky up for Masterchef to help him fulfill his dream to open a backery specialized in traditional Italian recipes.    
On his part Nicky knew that Joe’s was originally from the Jerusalem. His parents had decided to leave when Joe was 10. Australia seemed to be a tolerant nation, one that gave everyone a fair chance to build a good life, so they had decided to move there. It had been hard at the beginning. Joe and his sister Myriam had been the only Muslim kids in their school. They had been singled out and made fun of. Things had slowly gotten better and by the time they went to high school they fit in nicely.    
When Joe was 20 his parents had died. Joe was the older brother and he had dropped out of university to take care of his sister. That was when he started to cook, to take care of his sister and treat her with her favorite dishes and help her feel the absence of their parents a little less. Now Myriam was married and had her own family and Joe had thought that it was time to follow his dreams. He had signed up for Masterchef and he dreamt of using the moneys of the prize to open a restaurant.    
  
They made it to the Top5 and by then they dreamt of arriving together in the finals, competing against each other for the title. This was losing would be less bitter, because Nicky would be happy for Joe and Joe for Nicky.    
They made it to the Top3 and then to the finals.    
In the finals they had to think of their own menù and then serve it to the judges and the contestants that had been eliminated.    
Nicky cut his hand deeply when they were two hours in and it heavily impacted the rest of his cooking.    
When Joe was announced as the winner Nicky was the first one to hug him. He wouldn’t lie, the loss hurt a lot, he had really hoped he would win. He had desperately wanted to win, to open his own bakery, to build a better future for himself and Maria and to prove to their parents that he could be successful even without them.    
But Joe had won. He would get to fulfill his dream and Nicky couldn’t be happier for him. 

The celebrations moved from the Masterchef kitchen to the house where they had lived for the duration of the competition. All the other contestants were there, and Joe’s family and friends where there too. All Nicky wanted was to have a minute alone with Joe, but he was always surrounded by people.    
After a while the chaos of the party started to become too much for Nicky. He had never been a party person and the hurt of the loss was still strong in his heart so he went to find a quiet place to sit and relax a bit, so he went back in the house and sat on the couch.    
Hours later the party finally came to an end and Joe went to look for Nicky. 

“Ehi, Nicky. “ He said collapsing on the couch next to Nicky.    
Nicky turned to look at him and when their eyes met his started beating furiously in his chest.    
“Ehi Joe. I’m so happy for you... “ Nicky started but Joe didn’t let him finish. He leaned down and kissed him, Nicky kissed back.    
When they parted Joe leaned his forehead against Nicky’s.    
“ I love you, Nicky. I’ve loved you for a while, but I never let myself acknowledge it. The chance of one of us having to leave was too high and I couldn’t risk... But now it’s over and we are going to go our separate ways and I couldn’t let you go without telling you...”   
“ I love you too” Nicky replied. “ I’ve loved you since we first met.”    
Joe kissed him again. When they parted he said:   
“So what do you say. How would and Italian bakery and my restaurant work together? “    
“ I think we’ll never know if we don’t try” Nicky answered kissing Joe again. 

And they lived happily ever after. 


End file.
